Friday, November 25, 2011

A little overpass art on I-95 in Richmond today. I am back in Baltimore for my weekend of work. The one bright spot is that I received my insurance check from the National Flood Insurance Program for the damages I received from Hurricane Irene. Now the real renovation work can commence. I am wrapping up my time here in Baltimore and will be moving back to my NC home within the next couple of months so I can hardly wait. I have not enjoyed my 5 year stint here in Baltimore and getting back to a rural lifestyle is my idea of heaven. I am going to spend several months just working on the house, putting in a solar and water system, establishing a garden, raising some chickens and just decompressing (oh, and taking some decent pictures again for a change). Maybe next fall I will go back to work:o)

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I finished another three crazy days at work which were absolutely terrible. That explains my 3 day lapse in posts. I hit the road real early this morning to head back to my NC home. This is a picture taken while driving south on I-95 through Washington D.C. this morning about 2:30am. I have never seen so little traffic while driving through the Hell of D.C.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I spent the last couple of days packing boxes for my upcoming move. Todays pic is from my archive. It was taken on the river behind my house in NC a few years ago. I can hardly wait to pull the canoe out and get back on the water.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Looking out from my back patio on my birthday this year, August 27th, during Hurricane Irene. The house was flooded and only the most basic of repairs have been made. I am currently waiting on my flood insurance claim to be paid and I have no idea how long that will take. Since the claim is with the National Flood Insurance Program (FEMA) I am sure it will be quick and efficient.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Hey, I thought today that if I can make bread then I can make crackers! Well, I did and it was easy - they came out great (excuse the rough looking cookie sheet). I just made a single serving of crackers using 1/2 cup of flour, 1 tbsp. olive oil, garlic salt and just a little bit of water added until it turns into dough (about 1/4 cup). Roll it out onto a cookie sheet, top with a little rough ground salt and bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. Total time to make was 30 minutes (5 to make the dough and 25 to cook). That's it for my cooking posts this week. I'm just excited that I can have fun making some of my bread products at a MUCH reduced price over store bought.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I had so much fun making bread yesterday I just had to do it again today to learn from my mistakes. Today was perfect. I made two loaves and on one I decided to get fancy making 3 strands and weaving them. Both loaves are great and I had a blast again. It's a lot cheaper than buying bread from the store and it's not hard at all. The only thing I might try next time is to use 'bread' flour instead of all purpose flour. I would get more 'rise' but the bread flour costs almost 3 times as much. I'm sure I will stick with the cheaper route as I am very pleased with what I got today. First pic is just before going in the oven, after letting the loaves rise for about 30 minutes. The second pic is right out of the oven. I got the golden color by spraying the loaves with cooking spray just before going in and the last one is the end cut off (after I had eaten what I cut off).

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

I decided to make bread for the first time today and boy is it easy and fun. It didn't turn out perfect but it tasted great and I know how to perfect it next time. I won't be buying bread anymore. For one loaf I just mixed 3 cups of flour, 1 tbs. sugar (I didn't have any sugar so I used maple syrup), 1 tsp. salt, 1 package fast rise yeast and 1 1/4 cup of warm water. You just mix all the ingredients, knead the resulting dough for about 10 minutes, let stand and rise for 1 hour, knead again for a minute or two and form out the loaf on a greased cookie sheet, let stand and rise for another 30 minutes then throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. My one mistake? After I had formed the loaf and had let it rise for 30 minutes I cut the top of the loaf with several slits like you see online. Well, I should have done that after I had formed the loaf but BEFORE I let it do the final 30 minute rise. What happened was the loaf had all puffed out like it should have but when I cut the top it partially collapsed. Then I cooked it and although it did puff back up some it lost the full rise that it had before I sliced it. Still came out tasting great though. I felt like Tom Hanks in Castaway when he had made fire and was dancing around singing. When I finished I was thumping my chest and saying "bread, me make bread"